1994 sportster xl shifting problem

Bike will up shift fine and down shift fine, until i try to down shift from second to first. then the shifter peddal gets stuck and wont pop back up or go into first gear.the hotter the bike gets the worse it is

Make sure your cltuch is disengaging. With the motor full hot (ride it a good while), shut iff the engine, put it in first, pull in the clutch and try to roll the bike. It should roll as easily (or almost as easily) as it would in nuetral. If it resist, loosen the clutch adjustment so it has plenty of free play in the lever. Ride and see if that makes a difference. If not, most likely you have a bent shift fork or shif shaft. :(

1 Suggested Answer

Hi,
a 6ya expert can help you resolve that issue over the phone in a minute or two.
best thing about this new service is that you are never placed on hold and get to talk to real repairmen in the US.
the service is completely free and covers almost anything you can think of (from cars to computers, handyman, and even drones).
click here to download the app (for users in the US for now) and get all the help you need.goodluck!

Tell us some more! Your answer needs to include more details to help people.You can't post answers that contain an email address.Please enter a valid email address.The email address entered is already associated to an account.Login to postPlease use English characters only.

Related Questions:

Hi Anonymous, things don't work well without oil. sounds like you fried your tranny. My sugestion would be to take it to your local dealer or reputabl shop and have pull it apart and do an estimate. Good luck

Hi Anonymous, and the usual suspects are: shifter pawl, shifter cam, shifter cam follower, or shifter fork. I know you are crying your eyes out because you can't find the first and very best tool you ever bought for your Sportster to let you know which suspect it is. Well dry those pretty blues because for a mere $5.50 you can download another one, please visit website below:Harley Davidson Manuals Mark Workshop
Good luck

Lower your shifter pedal one notch. As a general rule, if the clutch is dragging on the bike, it makes it almost impossible to find neutral with the engine running. Very rarely does a dragging clutch prevent a bike from shifting. You probably need to lift the shifter pedal just a bit higher with your toe. But, it that doesn't work, you can pull the primary cover and the clutch and check on the shifter pawl that is behind the clutch. It has a "timing hole" that has to be set in the proper position. Unless the bike has been into, this should be correctly set from the factory. You could possibly have a problem with the shifter pawl as well but usually when they give trouble, you can't shift the transmission at all.

It sounds like you may have two problems. The not shifting problem sounds like the shifter pawl is giving you a problem. The revving but not speeding up is the clutch slipping. You may be able to fix the clutch slippage problem with a simple adjustment of the clutch. The shifter pawl is a bit more difficult. If you need clutch plates in the clutch, you'll need a special tool to disassemble and reassemble the clutch. The shifter pawl is located in the primary right behind the clutch assembly.

Sounds like early symptoms of shifter pawl trouble. The shifter pawl is behind the clutch assembly in the primary cover. They are pretty bad about giving problems during the late '90's and early 2000's.

For some reason I get the impression that you are not very familiar with your bike. The transmission is indeed a 5-speed transmission. The shifting pattern is "1 down and 4 up". Press the shift lever down for first gear and then up four times to top or fifth gear. If it's not shifting into fifith gear, there's something wrong with your shifter assembly in the primary case.

To find and fix the problem, you'll have to remove the outer primary cover and the primary drive including the compensator sprocket and clutch assembly. The engine sprocket nut is on very tight 150-165 foot pounds and the nut that holds the clutch assembly on is left handed threads. Once you get the clutch out of the way, you can see the shifter assembly. More than likely, you have a shifter pawl broken. It's not difficult to replace this if you have means to remove the stuff I've told you about.

First, with the bike not running, rock the bike back and forth and try to shift the gears. You should be able to shift up through all the gears and back down. If you can't, the problem is in the shifting mechanism. They've had some shifter pawl problems on earlier models. You'll have to pull the primary cover to get to the shifting mechanism.

Next, put the bike in first gear with the engine off. Now, pull the clutch in and try to start the engine. If the bike lurches forward, you're problem is the clutch. Check the adjustment of the clutch according to the service manual.